Two Bugs ("Ask for name when creating layers and groups" - "Merge Options")

[JpLaf]

Hello

I've noticed two bugs in Affinity Photo (2.5.3 in French - Windows 11) that I find particularly annoying.

-->Firstly, the ‘Ask for name when creating layers and groups’ mode doesn't work (‘Edit’ menu - ‘Settings’).

--> On the other hand, I use the ‘Merge Options’ function, a lot on many layers, but nothing indicates which layers have been the subject of a merge option, which becomes restrictive when checking the status of each of them.

Could you suggest a solution?

Thank you very much in advance for your understanding.

Best regards.

 

[MikeTO]

I can't duplicate the issue with #1 on macOS, even in French, so it must be specific to Windows.

I'm not sure what you mean by #2, could you share more information?

Good luck

[JpLaf]

When I use layers on which I've applied ‘Merge Options’, there's nothing to tell me that these layers have been modified from their original state, and when you want to go back in the processing, it's not at all practical, because you have to check the layers one by one to check their state, to find out which ones have been modified.

[Ron P.]

Works on Windows.

In Affinity Photo, it asks for Name when creating Groups. It doesn't ask when creating Layers. Affinity Designer does ask for names when Creating Layers or Groups.

[carl123]

6 hours ago, JpLaf said:

I've noticed two bugs in Affinity Photo (2.5.3 in French - Windows 11) that I find particularly annoying.

-->Firstly, the ‘Ask for name when creating layers and groups’ mode doesn't work (‘Edit’ menu - ‘Settings’).

Grouping layers work fine (you are asked to name them) there are no Layer layers in APhoto. You will only find them in Designer and Publisher

Both the settings option and help are misleading in APhoto by mentioning Layers (there are none)

Layer > New Group does not ask for a name (pretty sure it should)

PS Since everything added in the Layers panel is effectively a layer, some users may be (mistakenly) expecting a prompt for every new layer to be named

Windows 11 (UK)

[JpLaf]

What would be desirable, in terms of improvement, is if, when a layer is added, the layer naming zone opens automatically without the need to click on it with the mouse.

[walt.farrell]

3 hours ago, JpLaf said:

What would be desirable, in terms of improvement, is if, when a layer is added, the layer naming zone opens automatically without the need to click on it with the mouse.

In what sense are you using "layer"? 

In the general sense, where every object you draw is a layer? Or in the specific sense of Layer layers, which are a specific kind of container object? The current option is (as others have mentioned) for Layer layers.

In my opinion, being forced to (or even offered the opportunity to) name every object I created would be a terrible workflow.

[walt.farrell]

9 hours ago, carl123 said:

Both the settings option and help are misleading in APhoto by mentioning Layers (there are none)

You can have Layer layers in Photo, if you start with a document created by Designer or if you have Linked Assets created in Designer that contain a Layer layer. 

10 hours ago, carl123 said:

Layer > New Group does not ask for a name (pretty sure it should)

Layer > New Group probably should ask for a name. Note that Ctrl/Cmd + G does ask for a name, though this is a different function as it creates a Group from selected layers, where New Group creates an empty group. But for consistency they should both prompt when the option is on.

In Designer, Layer > Group (equivalent to Cntrl/Cmd + G) does prompt. Designer doesn't have Layer > New Group and Photo doesn't have Layer > Group.

10 hours ago, Ron P. said:

In Affinity Photo, it asks for Name when creating Groups. It doesn't ask when creating Layers.

You can't create Layers in Photo directly, though. Layer > New Layer in Photo gives you a Pixel layer not a Layer layer.

--- 

I also find it interesting that Ctrl/Cmd + J to duplicate a Layer or a Group doesn't prompt for a name (if currently unnamed) or a new name (if currently named).

[lepr]

Maybe Affinity 3 will have Layer layer layers. Can we have Group group groups to go with that, please?

[carl123]

17 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

You can have Layer layers in Photo, if you start with a document created by Designer or if you have Linked Assets created in Designer that contain a Layer layer. 

True but the APhoto help should not mention them as they are not natively available for users that only purchased APhoto. If that was the case the help should also be mentioning things like Tables which would be there if you start with a document created by Publisher or if you have Linked Assets created in Publisher that contain a Table

26 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

 New Group creates an empty group.

So does clicking the Group icon in the Layers panel if you have nothing selected but that prompts you for a name

30 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Designer doesn't have Layer > New Group and Photo doesn't have Layer > Group

But Photo does have Arrange > Group

It's all a bit inconsistant

[JpLaf]

When I use the word ‘Layer’, I mean ‘Pixel Layer’.

[JpLaf]

I made it clear at the beginning of my comment that I was in an exclusive Affinity Photo environment.

[walt.farrell]

14 minutes ago, JpLaf said:

When I use the word ‘Layer’, I mean ‘Pixel Layer’.

As that is not the usual meaning of Layer with a capital L and with no further qualification, it would be helpful if you would always say Pixel Layer so everyone knows what you mean. Thanks.

Feel free to post a Feature Request in the Feedback forum to add a new option for automatically requesting the user to name Pixel Layers when they are created. That is not what the current option does, and in my opinion it would take a new option for that function. (The function you ask for might be useful to some users; it's just not the option that currently exists.)

[JpLaf]

I forgot to tell you that I was a photographer, not a graphic designer.

 

[Ron P.]

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

You can't create Layers in Photo directly, though. Layer > New Layer in Photo gives you a Pixel layer not a Layer layer.

Yes I'm aware of that. Just my wording, about the prompt asking to name, does not happen in AP, for the OP.

[walt.farrell]

24 minutes ago, Ron P. said:

Yes I'm aware of that. Just my wording, about the prompt asking to name, does not happen in AP, for the OP.

But that's because the prompt is only for Layer layers, not Pixel layers.

[lepr]

3 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

it would be helpful if you would always say Pixel Layer so everyone knows what you mean

If a Layer is a "Layer layer" then a Pixel Layer must be a "Pixel Layer layer"